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The I-M Story

Let me flash-back to 1982. I had graduated from Sarah Lawrence College two years earlier in 1980 with a BA in Liberal Arts. But in 1982, I decided I wanted to be a physician, and enrolled in the Columbia School of General Studies while continuing in my day job. I was going to complete […]

Are Impulsive Kids Actually Trusting Kids?

I read an intriguing article today by Kurth and Haussmann, two researchers of ADHD out of Colorado. They are interested in isolating specific risk factors that may account for the dramatic increase in ADHD over the last several decades. The general debate goes something like this: Is there more ADHD than there was three decades […]

The “Use it or lose it” Model

In the context of pruning and the “use it or lose it” model, addiction is like a pathway. It may start out as a mere amble through the woods, a poorly defined trail, but can end up like a super highway with few exits. Drugs are the vehicles that drive that road, and every new […]

Erich Engelhardt M.A. Joseph Shrand, MD However, this process of change leaves the adolescent brain particularly vulnerable to the toxic influence of drugs and alcohol. Already in a major state of flux, the addition of drugs and alcohol that artificially induce dramatic and brutal changes in it’s neurochemistry, (especially the increase of dopamine, the molecule […]

Implications of Brain Plasticity Part 2

Erich Engelhardt M.A. Joseph Shrand, MD The Oxford English dictionary defines plasticity as the ability to be easily molded or to undergo a permanent change in shape. The biological definition describes plasticity as the adaptability of an organism to changes in its environment; specifically the ability to alter the neural connections of the brain as […]

by Erich Engelhardt M.A. and Joseph Shrand, MD It never made sense what my teachers in medical school were telling me back in the late 1980’s about the brain: that brain cells did not replicate and once dead were therefore not replaced. Practically all other parts of the body have some way of reproducing. From […]

The Imax Approach Part 6

SMALL CHANGES CAN HAVE BIG EFFECTS Over the last few weeks I have introduced you to my concept of the Imax Approach, which I have been working on and refining since 1982. This week I hope to present one of the remarkable components of this very simple yet profound concept. I am asking each of […]

The Imax Approach Part 5

This week I roll out the fourth domain of the Imax, the internal domain of your brain and body. I think readers who have followed this column can appreciate that who we are is profoundly influenced by our home and social domains, and how this has impacted the Ic domain, how we see ourselves and […]

The Imax Approach 4

Last week we explored the first two domains, the home and social environments that influence the Imax. These two domains are external, and represent the attachments we have in our lives. But those attachments influence the next two domains, the internal domains of the Ic (to be explained below), and the biological domain of our […]

The Imax Approach Part 3

Over the last few weeks I have been rolling out the Imax Approach, the idea that people are always at an Imax, doing the best they can at this moment in time. This week I will explore the first two domains that influence our Imax, the home and social domains. The Four Domains Your home […]

RECENT FROM THE BLOG

Let me flash-back to 1982. I had graduated from Sarah Lawrence College two years earlier in 1980 with a BA in Liberal Arts.
But in 1982, I decided I wanted to be a physician, and enrolled in the Columbia School of General Studies while continuing...

I read an intriguing article today by Kurth and Haussmann, two researchers of ADHD out of Colorado. They are interested in isolating specific risk factors that may account for the dramatic increase in ADHD over the last several decades. The...

In the context of pruning and the "use it or lose it" model, addiction is like a pathway. It may start out as a mere amble through the woods, a poorly defined trail, but can end up like a super highway with few exits. Drugs are the vehicles that drive that road, and every new...